Mark Webber
|birthplace = Queanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia |death date = |placeofdeath = |nationality = |status = Retired |firstrace = 2002 Australian Grand Prix |firstwin = 2009 German Grand Prix |lastrace = 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix |lastwin = 2012 British Grand Prix |2013Position = 3rd |2013Pts = 199 }} Mark Alan Webber (born August 27, 1976 in Queanbeyan, Southern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian racing driver who competed in F1 from to before joining Porsche in the World Endurance Championship. During his career, Webber has tested for and and has raced for , , and, most recently, . In his 12 seasons in F1, Webber won nine of his 215 race starts and finished third in the , and World Drivers Championships. In this time, he also helped Red Bull Racing to four consecutive World Constructors' titles. Webber has also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans on two occasions, failing to finish in 1998 and failing to start, due to a terrifying high-speed somersault in qualifying, in the 1999 event. Webber announced his retirement on October 13, 2016 from all forms of motorsport at the age of 40. __TOC__ Formula One Career Minardi 2002 Webber officialy made his Formula One debut at his home GP. This was his first race of an initial three race contract and it was extended until the end of the season after his first race where he finished fifth after avoiding the Schumacher and Barrichello spectacular accident with the aftermath forcing eight cars to retire from the race. The result made him, the fourth Australian F1 driver to score World Championship points, the first Australian to score points on debut and the first in a car to score points since Marc Gené in the in 1999. Webber was forced into retirement in the after a electrical fault, before picking up consecutive 11th-place finishes at Brazil and San Marino. He, along with Yoong, was forced to pull out of the Spanish Grand Prix due to potentially dangerous wing failures during the weekend. Webber was unable to score any more points for the remainder of the year, with his best result coming in France, where he finished 8th. In the , Webber lost two kilograms in weight over the race as he was forced to drive without a drink after his water bottle broke. Webber was able to outqualify Yoong (and Anthony Davidson, who replaced Yoong for the Hungarian and Belgian Grands Prix) in every race. His two points though was the only points that Minardi scored all season, helping them to 9th in the Constructors' Championship, ahead of and as it was ahead of Toyota and Arrows best result of 6th. Webber's results in 2002 earned him the "Rookie of the Year" award in F1 Racing magazine's annual Man of the Year awards receiving half of the public votes), the Autosport.com "Rookie of the Year" award and "F1 Newcomer of the Year" at the annual Grand Prix Party "Bernie" Awards. In light of his season, notable Formula One journalist Peter Windsor related Webber to World Champion Nigel Mansell, saying they had similar amounts of "raw talent". Jaguar 2003 In November 2002, Webber was signed to and his career at Jaguar started disappointingly when he was forced to retire on lap 15 with a rear suspension failure in the . The following race in Malaysia was problematic for Webber; Giancarlo Fisichella began reversing towards him on the starting grid and then Webber's in-car fire extinguisher discharged into his face. He was eventually forced to retire from 8th position with an oil consumption problem. Webber did take provisional pole in Friday qualifying of the , out-qualifying local driver Rubens Barrichello by 0.138 seconds during a rain-affected session. He continued his good performance in the Saturday session taking a career-best 3rd on the grid just behind Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard. It was 's best qualifying performance in their four-year Formula One history. In the race, which was hit heavily by rain, Webber was in seventh place when he attempted to cool his tyres by driving through a puddle lying off-line in the final corner. The resultant lack of grip caused Webber to crash heavily into the pit straight walls, leaving debris on the track which caused a second major crash; Fernando Alonso hitting a stray tyre. The race was subsequently red-flagged, and although Webber was originally classified in 7th, an FIA investigation found a timekeeping error which meant that Webber was placed 9th in the re-classification. Webber's good form in qualifying continued into the but at the start of the race he had dropped from 5th to 11th by the first corner because of a launch control failure that affected both Jaguars. He retired from the race after 54 laps with a driveshaft failure, his fourth consecutive non-finish for the year. His luck did improved in the following races though, taking his first two points in Spain and signed a new 2-year contract with the team reportedly worth US$6 million per season. He then went on to score points in five of the next six races on his way to moving into the top 10 in the World Drivers' Championship, the run of point result interrupted only by an engine failure at Monaco. One of his best races came in Austria where despite starting from the pitlane and suffering a drive-through penalty and setting the race's third fastest lap, behind only the s Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, finishing in 7th place. At the , as the procession of cars exited the Becketts corner onto the Hangar straight on lap 11, now-defrocked priest Neil Horan cleared the fence wearing a kilt whilst waving banners with the statements "Read the Bible" and "The Bible is always right". Horan ran towards the sequence of cars forcing several cars to swerve to avoid him. Webber came closest to hitting Horan in a terrifying parallel to the accident at the 1977 South African Grand Prix where volunteer track marshal, Jansen Van Vuuren, ran across the main straight to aid a car and was hit at by Welsh driver Tom Pryce. The safety car was deployed to remove Horan from the track, and Webber eventually finished 14th. After Silverstone, Webber had scored 12 Championship points, compared to his team mate 0, and after much speculation it was announced that Minardi driver Justin Wilson would replace the Brazilian for the remainder of the year. The saw Webber's sixth retirement of the season after he made a last lap lunge on Jenson Button in an attempt to salvage a point from the weekend. Consecutive points finishes in Hungary and Italy saw Webber climb to ninth in the drivers' standings with a 5-point margin over Button. He was unable to hold on to this position however, after one too many laps on dry tyres saw him spin out from the lead of the , and a disappointing 11th-place result in Japan. These meant that he had finished on equal points with Button but lost out on a countback. Although Wilson scored a point in the United States Grand Prix, Webber had still never been outqualified by a team-mate and, late in the year, Jaguar announced that rookie Christian Klien would team up with Webber for the 2004 season. Webber's results again earned him plaudits in the press, winning the 2003 "Driver of the Year" award from Autocar magazine. 2004 As he signed the contract with Jaguar in 2004, Webber qualified sixth for the first race of the season, the , but faced his second consecutive retirement from his home race fom a gearbox failure on lap 15. At the following race, the , Webber produced his best qualifying performance of his early career by splitting the dominant Ferraris to line up second on the grid. The race was less rewarding with a near-stall at the start meaning he was well outside the top 10 by the time the cars reached turn 1. An aggressive lap saw him move up to ninth place but during an exciting battle with Ralf Schumacher, both of them collided, forcing Webber to pit with damage to his front wing and tyre. In his desperation to make up for the lost time, Webber exceeded the pitlane speed limit and was handed a drive-through penalty which left him even further behind. More frustration eventually led to the end of his race as he spun into the gravel trap on the outside of the final corner on lap 23. The situation improved for the following race in Bahrain, with Webber picked up his first point for the season despite a small mistake in qualifying which left him starting 14th and marked the first time he had been outqualified by his team-mate in F1 (Christian Klien). He couldn't continue his point scoring form, however, as intermittent electrical problems in the next race at San Marino and a lack of grip in Spain meant that he could do no better than 13th and 12th in those races. Webber had a shocker in the next race which was the where he suffered two engine failures in practice, the first of which forced Webber to extinguish it himself after being unable to find a track-side marshal willing to help. In the race, Webber was then forced to retire because of a loss of engine power. He was able to pick up two more championship points in the following race as he finished 7th. Webber had to lined up 14th on the grid, after being handed a one-second penalty for yellow flag infringements during Friday practice, but was able to move through the field to take his points tally to 3. After the race, he was criticised by Michael Schumacher for refusing to yield when Webber had emerged from his pit stop slightly ahead of (but one lap behind) Schumacher. Upon hearing the comments from Schumacher, Webber said he "would do exactly the same again" in the same situation that it showed. at the 2004 United States Grand Prix]] The North America rounds of the season was one to forget for Webber as he had retirements in both the Canada, where he was hit by Klien, and United States where he suffered an oil leak. The luck then changed, as he gained a 9th place in France and preceded with a further championship point in Britian; although his total of 4 points compared unfavourably to his 12 scored by the exact same round in the previous season. It was at this stage that former team-mate Pizzonia returned to racing as a replacement for the injured Ralf Schumacher and accused Jaguar of the favouritism towards Webber during their time as team-mates saying that Webber received new car parts one or two races before Pizzonia. The claims of Pizzonia were categorically denied by Jaguar boss David Pitchforth, and whilst Webber did not publicly comment on the situation at the time he scored his best result of the season finishing sixth in the , running ahead of Pizzonia for the entire race. Meanwhile, reports emerged that Jaguar could not guarantee that they would compete in Formula One for the 2005 season and on the 28 July, it was announced that Webber would drive for for 2005 and beyond. He would then later admit this was the team that his "heart was always set on". Webber was unable to build on his points tally and would finish with only sevens points and 13th place. The penultimate race of the season, the saw Webber produce another good qualifying effort as he set the third fastest time. His race ended prematurely though when he suffered from a badly overheating cockpit, the cause of which could not be determined by Jaguar. The marked both Webber's last race in Jaguar colors and Jaguar in Formula One, ending sadly for the team, as Klien turned into a corner colliding with Webber as the Australian attempted to make up for a pit stop delay earlier in the race. Webber was forced to retire due to the damage and watched the remainder of the race from the grass on the outside of turn 1 as Klien finished 14th. Williams 2005 In the first race for his new team, the , Webber took 3rd on the grid but was beaten to the first corner by David Coulthard and finished the race in fifth. His best chance though, came in the following race in Malaysia. After qualifying fourth, Webber was defending third position having overtaken the Renault car of Giancarlo Fisichella at turn 14. An optimistic Fisichella (who was struggling due to a lack of downforce and tyre grip) slip streamed Webber on the back straight and attempted a counter-pass down the inside of turn 15. Unfortunately, Fisichella locked the brakes and slid into the side of Webber's car, eliminating both drivers from the race. It was later revealed that Webber had competed in the first two races suffering a fractured rib, from an injury he had sustained during pre-season testing at Barcelona, though he "didn't want to make a fuss" about it and would be fully fit in time for the . After qualifying fifth in Bahrain, Webber had been as high as third place in the race but he ultimately finished sixth, taking his points tally to 7 for the season. He then followed this up by qualifying fourth and finishing in a disappointing 10th after twice running wide off the track in the , although his position was revised to 7th after the disqualification of the team and a resulting penalty to Ralf Schumacher. That race was a poor one for Williams, but Webber hit back at the , qualifying 2nd and finishing 6th making his fourth points scoring finish in the first five races. The following race in Monaco saw Webber took home his podium finish of the year in third place. On the rostrum Webber looked noticeably disappointed with the result after losing second place to team-mate Heidfeld due to the Williams team pitting Heidfeld before Webber causing Webber to lose time behind the slow Alonso. Webber had been ahead of Heidfeld for most of the race and would probably still have been second had the team pitted them in the more regular sequence. This best result of Webber's career was followed by one of his worst at the when, after qualifying third, he locked his brakes in the very first corner of the race and collided with Juan Pablo Montoya, forcing him to retire. Heidfeld started from pole position to finish in second place overtaking Webber in championship points in the process. The race in Canada was affected by this previous result, as Webber was only able to qualify 14th, but he was pleased with an eventual 5th-place finish and a further 4 Championship points to the tally. The was the beginning of a low streak for Webber with just one point-scoring finish in the next seven races, with that being a seventh in Hungary. This stage, he had slipped from 6th to 10th in the World Championship. Webber then retired in Turkey where he collided with Michael Schumacher after the German changed lines in the braking area, causing extensive damage to both cars. With Heidfeld injured, Webber's former Jaguar team-mate Antônio Pizzonia stepped into the second Williams seat adding pressure on Webber to perform well given the public argument the pair had towards the end of 2004. The saw Pizzonia driving to seventh whilst Webber was caught up in a first-corner incident which led to him finishing 14th. The roles were then reversed for the following race in Belgium as Webber finished in fourth place and Pizzonia retired after a collision with Juan Pablo Montoya in the closing laps. With rumours spreading that Heidfeld had in fact signed with BMW Sauber for the 2006 season, Pizzonia continued in the race seat, and in the , was clipped by David Coulthard in turn one. The contact caused Pizzonia to spin into the path of Webber forcing extensive repairs to the Australian's car. Webber took 17th place, setting the 8th fastest lap of the race, but wasn't classified as a finisher. The final two races of the season saw Webber take 4th and 7th to consolidate his 10th place in the Drivers' Championship. Webber described the 2005 season as "frustrating" and acknowledged that his reputation had somewhat diminished but opted to stay on with Williams despite an offer from BMW Sauber. Webber's team-mate for 2006 would be Nico Rosberg. 2006 Red Bull Racing 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 During qualifying for the , Webber set pole position for the race, due to his team-mate Vettel suffering KERS issues. He went on to finish second behind his team-mate after passing Romain Grosjean. Formula One Statistical Overview Formula One Record Career Statistics Correct as of 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix Race Wins Career Results | |11th|11th| |12th|11th|11th|15th| |8th| |16th| | | |10th|2|16th}} | |9th| | | | | | | |24th|11th| | | |11th|17|10th}} | | |13th|12th| | | | |9th| | |10th| |9th|10th| | |7|13th}} | | | | | | | | |12th|11th| | | |14th| | | | |36|10th}} | | | | |9th| | |12th| | | | |10th|10th| | | |7|14th}} | | |9th| |12th| | |9th| |9th| | |10th| |10|12th}} | | | | | |12th| |10th| |9th|12th| | | | |14th|9th|21|11th}} | |11th| | | | | | |9th|9th| | |17th| | |69.5|4th}} | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |242|3rd}} | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |258|3rd}} | | | |11th| | | | | | | |20th|11th| | | | | | |179|6th}} | | | | | | | | | | | |15th| | | | | | |199|3rd}} Notes Category:Australian Drivers Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:2002 Début Drivers Category:Minardi Drivers Category:Jaguar Drivers Category:Williams Drivers Category:Red Bull Drivers Category:Mark Webber Category:Drivers